New book from Silvia Battista

Posthuman Spiritualities in Contemporary Performance

This book provides an interpretative analysis of the notion of spirituality through the lens of contemporary performance and posthuman theories. The book examines five performance/artworks: The Artist is Present (2010) by Marina Abramović; The Deer Shelter Skyscape (2007) by James Turrell; CAT (1998) by Ansuman Biswas; Journey to the Lower World by Marcus Coates (2004); and the work with pollen by Wolfgang Laib. Through the analysis of these works the notion of spirituality is grounded in materiality and embodiment allowing the conceptual juxtaposition of spirit and matter to introduce the paradoxical as the guiding thread of the narrative of the book. Here, the human is interrogated and negotiated with/within a plurality of other living organisms, intangible existences and micro and macrocosmic ecologies. Silence, meditation, shamanic journeys, reciprocal gazing, restraint, contemplation are analyzed as technologies used to manipulate perception and adventure into the multilayered condition of matter.

Book launch

Join author Silvia Battista with performative talk Ancestral Lineage in Academic Writing: an exercise in gratitude’ at 18.00 on Friday November 30.

Event Details

Friday, 11th January to Wednesday 6th March, 2019, Dartington Space Gallery
This is an exhibition of work by three artists: Fiona Harrisson, Susan Kruse, Delia Salter, all working independently and all

Event Details

This is an exhibition of work by three artists: Fiona Harrisson, Susan Kruse, Delia Salter, all working independently and all letting the wind, clouds, air temperature and/or precipitation influence or, in some cases, collaborate in creating their artworks.

Fiona: “Drawing as a durational practice, allows me to attune to the aliveness of the world. The act of looking is slowed down by the act of drawing. I see the world becoming before my eyes. Each drawing is considered more of a residue of looking than a product in and of itself. The practice of drawing becomes a kind of contemplative performance in time and in place. Each set of drawing occurs over the period of one month, creating a daily rhythm, which builds a kind of intimacy with place and the landscapes of my life. Returning to the same place each day heightens my experience of place, which might otherwise go unnoticed. In this way the dynamics of place are inscribed onto me.”

Susan: “I generally work outside in the landscape, often in the most inclement weather, attempting to craft a personal visual language through direct intervention with environmental forces. Investigating the drawings made by seemingly chaotic processes, rain, wind and extreme cold; my practice concerns itself with mark-making in which the hand of the artist is almost completely absent, exploring the notion of Gaia as a living entity.

Working primarily with drawing, I also use sound, video, photography and lo-tech and digital drawing devices to capture the traces of human movement in landscape.

More recently, I have begun thinking about the mass migrations happening in the human and animal world by the impact of climate change. Using my own ageing body as a vehicle for making work, gathering data generated through walking, I am investigating the connections between human frailty and personal suffering and our increasingly damaged planet.”

Delia: “Connecting with the basic elements of the natural world is, I believe, essential to our emotional, if not physical, survival. If we cease to be aware of the cycle of the seasons, the touch of the weather, the open spaces of fields, rivers and forests, the birds, animals and plants in their natural state, then we risk losing our lifeline to the very places that make us what we innately are.

I work with cloth, stitch, print and natural dyes. My practice expresses my personal relationship to the land. Activities include dyeing with natural dyes, walking on ancient paths while simultaneously recording the experience with cloth and stitch and printing patterns from the earth’s surface on cloth. The ice cloths to be shown at Dartington are part of this latter work and were made during winter on my allotment.

Event Details

First Fridays happen (surprise!) on the first Friday of every month, except January. First Fridays is a gathering place for artists or anyone interested in the arts, an opportunity to

Event Details

First Fridays happen (surprise!) on the first Friday of every month, except January. First Fridays is a gathering place for artists or anyone interested in the arts, an opportunity to share food and talk. Each month, after lunch, there is an informal presentation of work in progress by one or two artists who may be local or from far away.

Conversations with Weather - the current exhibition @Dartington Space Gallery. Open during office hours and on Saturdays. Beautiful work by Fiona Harrisson, Susan Kruse and Delia Salter all concerned with wind, clouds, temperature and weather. Until March 6. @DartingtonArtspic.twitter.com/sfAr…